6 Causes of Back Pain You Can Control

Control the Cause of Back Pain

Back pain has the ability to get a grip on your work, home and social life. If you have experienced the acute onset of the knife-like spasm, or shooting pain of “sciatica,” then you already know how back pain can put you on the floor. An event may last a few days, months, or become a chronic lifetime companion. It is important to understand the Causes of Back Pain so that you can take control of the problem by easing the stress and strain, restore function, and lead a productive and active lifestyle.

Personal and Social Impact of Back Pain

The frequency of back pain in society and impact on direct and indirect medical costs exceeds $100 billion dollars. It is estimated that 75% of the population will experience Low Back Pain(LBP) sometime during the lifespan.

There are also indirect costs related to low back pain that include resources expended to address this issue:

Lost work days and wages.

Decreased productivity due to disability relating to work and home.

Additional costs related to care giving and related expenditures to back pain.

The indirect costs of back pain alone account for 2/3 of the total costs.

Low back and spine pain has a significant impact on the individual, work and employment, and social relationships with family and friends, as well as society.

It is a problem that comes with great physical, emotional and mental burden placed on one’s health and well-being.

If you have not experienced the disabling nature of back or neck pain it may be difficult to fully grip the importance of understanding what may cause back pain, as it is to understanding what you can do to prevent this from becoming a problem.

The Cause of Back Pain provides direction in the self-care and medical management of this problem.

This article will address Back Pain as it relates to total spine(from neck to low back) and the causes of this musculoskeletal disorder that you can personally control.

There will be a follow-up article post that will address what you can do control and prevent back pain. This will include healthy back habits and modifications that you can immediately take action on a daily basis.

6 Causes of Back Pain that You Can Control

1. Poor Posture

Postural stress is accumulative in nature. This is the result of sustained positional changes of the neck and back. Forward head position, or a rounded back, results in overuse of muscles, chronic compression of discs or joints, a progressive irritation the promotes inflammation and pain.

Maintaining proper posture must be given attention at home, in the workplace and in daily habitual positions assumed at home.

Poor Posture at Home may include:

How you sit while watching T.V.

The time spent using your mobile devices.

How you stand and walk.

Proper posture provides efficient use of muscular energy and decreases the stress of soft tissue and joint structures that promotes productivity at work and daily routines.

2. Poor Body Mechanics

Poor body mechanics are related to the incorrect manner in which you perform a specific task. This can be related to poor static postures, such as sitting, or poor dynamic postures, such as lifting. These postures can cause repetitive trauma. Lifting boxes at work on a repeated basis, or a one time lift of a box in the garage at home, can place undue stress on spinal structures and muscles resulting in injury.

Poor mechanics can also be referred to as poor technique. This is often seen in the weight training room. Young athletes performing Squats can place unusual stress on spinal structures that are likely to be injured in the maturing bone. Whether you are lifting a piece of paper, or a heavy weight, proper body mechanics must be emphasized.

3. Loss of Flexibility

Loss of joint mobility can normal mobility and muscle imbalances. This may be related to increased skeletal growth in the young athlete, maintaining sustained postures at the computer, or maintenance of normal mobility of the extremities through decreased activity.

When it comes time to move, and normal mobility is not present, injury can occur to soft tissue or spinal structures.

4. Stressful Living and Work Habits

Stressful habits, whether at work, home or on the playing field, are often related to decreased rest and recovery. The manner in which you perform or engage in an activity can result in fatigue. This fatigue may be physical, mental or emotional. If we do not provide adequate relief from stressful activity, fatigue may result, causing increased activity of an already tired body and mind resulting in injury, or increased perception of pain.

If you continue to work a fatigued body and mind they will begin to fail you.

5. Poor Sleeping Positions

The posture that we maintain during our sleep is important for recovering your body from postures, physical exertion, and mental activity that we engage on a daily basis. If we are to spend the day with the neck craned forward in poor posture, and choose to sleep with pillows propping our head forward in a flexed position through the night the muscles will become tight on the front of out neck, and the joints of the neck will become stiff and unable to sustain an upright posture.

6. Decline of Physical Fitness

Maintaining your health through physical fitness is the foundation of injury prevention. If your muscles are conditioned to sustain physical activity, fatigue is avoided. Exercise improves physical function through improved cardiovascular health, and by delivering oxygenated blood to working muscles.

Strength training promotes increased capacity to perform work tasks and lean body mass. Leg strength and core stability, when combined with proper lifting techniques, promotes the prevention of back and neck injury.

There are causes of low back pain that can described as sudden onset, or with some related mechanism of injury as traumatic or by an acute onset(motor vehicle accident).

The 6 Causes of Back Pain that can be Controlled are best described as overuse injury. The cause of such injury can be related to repetitive stress that has a progressive, insidious or acute onset.

Back in Action

Bauer Back Action is a Monthly Online Course that provides Healing and Health Promoting Lessons and Strategies for Managing and Overcoming Back Pain, and Restoration of an Active Lifestyle. You will receive engaging monthly lessons, tips and resources to help: manage your back or neck pain; improve your functional abilities and performance; and impact you Health and Well-Being.

Comments

I like that you mentioned poor body mechanics. I know that oftentimes when you lift too much or lift improperly you can end up with some serious back pain and other injuries. I think the first step is to identify what is causing it, and then fixing.

Thanks for you comment Kenneth Gladman. Body Mechanics is important to address in the early phases of managing a client with onset of back pain. The cause of pain can be related to a multitude of stressors, both acute and chronic.Body Mechanics, whether static or dynamic, may be a cause. This can be defined by thorough assessment and history. Feel free to ask in other questions you may have. The more specific the better. Take Care, Randy Bauer